


The Tragic Tale of "What If?"

by DaniCarli



Series: ETNuary Challenge [11]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Death, Depressing, ETNuary, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship Lost, Gen, Guilt, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Pandora's Box, Regret, Sad, What Could Have Been, a lot of thinking of what if none of this happened, could this all have been avoided?, just a lot of angst, so much regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:00:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22206763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaniCarli/pseuds/DaniCarli
Summary: Joey's trapped in Pandora's Box, left to dwell on what could have been
Relationships: The Savant | Joey Graceffa & Everyone
Series: ETNuary Challenge [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1588867
Comments: 10
Kudos: 12





	The Tragic Tale of "What If?"

**Author's Note:**

> Day 11 of ETNuary: Joey Graceffa

_What if?_

That is always the first question one asks when they regret certain actions and choices they’ve made. And Joey has plenty of regrets. Plenty of _what if?_

He has the occasional _what if_ he never betrayed certain people at specific moments? But it's mainly the moments that led to his worse regrets.

 _What if_ he had just gone through the portal with Colleen and Bretman, resisting the calls from the mysterious box? Would it all be over and he would go home to live out the rest of his life, atoning for his sins and eventually finding peace?

Or _what if_ he just left the Carnival Master’s crystal in Everlock and returned home with his life restored? Would he have been able to overcome the agonizing guilt that he willingly sacrificed his friends' lives to save his own, staining his hands with fresh new blood?

Or how about _what if_ he had flat out refused the deal from Jael and Ryu to save Everlock and just remained dead? Would he have peacefully joined his dead friends in the afterlife or would he have wound up as another exhibit in the Museum of the Dead?

Or maybe _what if_ he had just listened to Tyler and made sure that the Sorceress was dead before trying to grab the Crown of Oblivion? Would he have been able to realize that she was still alive and try to find another way to defeat her without being killed?

But then there's _what if_ he had just burned the deed when he and the other two vanquished the evil from the house in 1920? Would he have prevented the evil from slipping into his soul that would later corrupt him and bring him to the Sorceress?

Of course, there's the _what if_ he was able to get Shane all three antidotes in time and save his life? Would his friend be able to expose Arthur and his staff, defeating the evil once and for all, saving everyone and preventing the first death game?

Or, most of all, _what if_ Joey had just turned down the “inheritance” he received from his “distant cousin”? Would he have carried on with his life as a normal YouTuber?

At least there's an answer to the last _what if?_ : Maybe. 

Maybe if he had just sought out help for his nightmares about the evil house from the beginning, then probably none of these events would have ever happened. No evil, no sick games, no monsters, no big bads to fight against, no artifacts, no jeweled items to attain. Most of all, none of his friends would die. He wouldn't have to deal with the guilt, the regret, and the blood that basically covers his whole body at this point.

Maybe Joey would have had a better life, a life where he was happy, a life where he was still innocent and pure.

In that life, he would still be a successful YouTuber and entrepreneur. He would live in a beautiful house in Los Angeles with his boyfriend and love, Daniel Preda, Daniel’s mother (and Joey’s surrogate mom), Maria, and their two huskies, Wolf and Storm. They would eventually get another husky, “sweet girl” Lark, who would later produce a litter of seven puppies that he and Daniel would end up keeping one of. He would be named Moon and they would be a family of seven. 

Joey would go on to write a fantasy trilogy, all best sellers, with the hopes of turning them into movies. He would launch a jewelry line called **Crystal Wolf** and sell everything from necklaces to nail polish, all based on his favorite crystals. He would create a music album three years after releasing “Don’t Wait”, and it would be a hit on the charts. Joey would be on top of the world and everything would be great.

But above all, he would still have his friends, alive and well, who would go on to have successful careers, get married, start a family, or even have all three. They would have never been caught up in these games, twenty-one of them would have never died, and eight of them would never have to survive with devastating trauma and guilt. Families wouldn’t mourn, the YouTube community wouldn’t cry for their fallen favorite YouTubers, and there wouldn’t have been the fear of who would be next.

All likely outcomes, all _what if?_

But that’s the unfortunate reality of _what if?_ Once Joey made the choice that would set each tragic event in motion, he would never be able see the other outcomes. He would never know that life.

All he can do is be trapped in that box, tormented for his crimes, haunted by the ghosts of his fallen friends, unable to know the answer that is _what if?_

And that's what hurts most of all.

 _what if?_ _what if?_ _WHAT IF?_

**Author's Note:**

> This is sad, I know! Joey has a lot of issues and he really has a lot to think about


End file.
